Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund Grant

Note:

• Beginning of June - Nominating Organizations recommend projects

End of June - Short applications from nominated projects are due. This is indicated above as due date for Pre-proposal.Mid-August - Top 20 Finalists apply with Core Application. This is indicated above as due date for Full Proposal.End of September - Grantees are selected
International Documentary Association
For 40 years, IDA has supported nonfiction filmmaking and filmmakers through our major program areas.
In service of our mission, IDA provides production and development grants directly to documentary filmmakers and helps them fundraise for their project through our Fiscal Sponsorship Program.
Annually, we produce the IDA Documentary Awards, celebrating the best nonfiction projects of the year, as well as the IDA Documentary Screening Series, bringing both films and the creators to industry insiders and film enthusiasts.
We publish the Documentary magazine, serving the documentary community with engaging, pragmatic and provocative coverage of the documentary field in online and linking the local and international communities of nonfiction makers.
As an advocate for documentary artists, activists and journalists, IDA issues statements, calls to action and op-eds, and coordinates with other organizations, networks and individuals, depending on the issues being addressed.
The Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund began in 2011, making it the International Documentary Association’s oldest fund, and has granted $1,360,000 to 72 projects. The fund provides production and post-production grants to be used in the creation of original, independent documentary films that illuminate urgent issues. Noteworthy Pare Lorentz grantees include Black Mothers, Hummingbirds, After Sherman, Crip Camp, Yintah, and Queer as Punk. A complete list of Pare Lorentz grantees can be found in our Grantee Database.
We select the films through nominations from key film organizations throughout the Americas. (To read more information about the theme and the nominations, click here).
Supported Grant Activities
Grant funds may be used for production and post-production related expenses. Expenses may include line items such as principal photography, travel, equipment purchase or rental, insurance, rights and clearances, editing, and crew salaries (including deferred payments).
Period of Support
The official grant period of concentrated support is one year from the date of the grant award. Filmmakers are strongly encouraged to use their grant funds within that first year. After the first granting year, the project will continue to receive reduced IDA artist support until the film is complete. The grantee is expected to complete annual deliverables based on their grant contract.
Grants Awarded
We will select three projects, and each will be awarded a grant of $25,000 USD. Each project will be afforded a $2000 consultation stipend to use for story, edit, or other catalytic support to help the project be successfully completed. One team member from each project will receive a free 1-year IDA Doc Maker Membership.

Eligibility

Applicant Eligibility
Applicant must be the director and/or a producer who shares creative and editorial oversight of the project. Co-producers and co-directors are allowed to apply but must have editorial oversight.The applicant must be 18 years of age or older.The applicant must be an independent filmmaker working on an original project. For the purposes of this grant, IDA defines an independent filmmaker as a content creator who both owns the copyright of his or her work and has full artistic, budgetary, and editorial control of the documentary project.Films owned by a production company are eligible, as long as the applicant is part of the production company and not just hired for the project.Applicants can apply from anywhere in the world.At least one director and/or producer on the project must have directed and/or produced at least one completed nonfiction feature-length film (40 minutes or longer).At the finalist stage, applicants will be required to have an IDA Membership.
Project Eligibility
Your project must be far enough into production that you have at least a 10-minute sample to show in the application. Work samples shorter than 10 minutes will not be considered.Your current work sample must have captions. They can be open captions, subtitles with audio descriptions, or closed captions.If you are a first-time director, a prior work sample is not required. If you do include a prior work sample, the sample cannot be behind a paywall.The project must address this year’s Pare Lorentz theme.The film budget must not exceed $1M USD.The project must be in production or post-production at the time of applying, having completed the bulk of research and development but still having substantial production and/or post-production-related work and expenses remaining.Access to major film participants must be secured.The film must be intended for an international and broad audience. A broadcast or distribution commitment is not required.Stories must be original, relevant to contemporary audiences, and urgent or critically important. Historical films will only be considered if they have a significant contemporary component or narrative.

Ineligibility

NOT eligible to apply: Biographies, branded content, student films, commissioned films, completed films, purely historical films, and short documentaries (under 40 minutes finished run time).Documentaries being produced for or under the direction of a third party, such as a broadcast entity, university, foundation or nonprofit organization are ineligible.
The fund does not support expenses related to impact, fundraising, distribution, publicity, marketing, or outreach.